Kellogg Company (K) reported strong third-quarter results with earnings of 94 cents per share. Earnings were well above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 83 cents and up 4.4% year over year, despite ongoing cost pressures and the challenging economic environment. Quarterly net sales were almost flat year-over-year declining marginally by 0.3% to $3.3 billion as the benefits from price/mix (+2.4%) and acquisitions (0.1%), tonnage (+0.7%) were fully offset by adverse currency translations (-3.5%). Internal sales, excluding impact of currency translations, increased 3.0%. In North America, net sales increased 1.5% (internal growth 2%) driven by Cereals (+2%), Snacks (3%), which was partially offset by declines in Frozen (-3%) and Specialty categories (-3%). Kellogg’s international operations experienced a net sales decline of 4% (internal sales increased 6%). Internal sales for Kellogg International comprise Latin America's net sales growth of 9%, Asia Pacific's growth of 4% and Europe ...

Kraft Foods Inc. (KFT), a leading manufacturer and marketer of packaged food products and grocery products worldwide, on Monday, September 7, 2009 has offered a takeover bid for Cadbury (CBY) at a purchase price of $16.2 billion (£10.2 billion). The offer price represents a 31% premium over the closing price on Friday, September 4, 2009. Thereafter, shares of Cadbury jumped 41%. However, Cadbury has rejected the offer, claiming that the total offer price of $16.2 billion (£10.2 billion) amounted to a significant undervaluation, as it expects to receive a bid for as much as $21 billion. The other major contenders for Cadbury are The Hershey Company (HMC), Kellogg’s (K) and PepsiCo (PEP). Kraft continues to pursue the takeover, as management at Kraft believes the deal (if successful) would create a company with annual revenues of approximately $50 billion. Also it would ...

Kraft Foods (KFT) reported strong second-quarter results with earnings of 56 cents per share, above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 54 cents. Quarterly earnings were also up 14.3% year-over-year. Net revenues declined 5.9% year-over-year to $10.2 billion, primarily due to the unfavorable negative 8.1% impact of foreign currency and a negative 0.7% impact from divestitures. However, organic revenues increased 2.9%, driven by a 2.7% benefit from pricing and a 0.2% gain from volume and mix. In the North American segment (KNAC) sales were flat year-over-year as gains in U.S. Convenient Meals (7.1%), U.S. Grocery (6.7%), U.S. Beverages (6.0%) and U.S. Snacks (1.3%) were offset by the declines in U.S. Cheese 8.7% and Canada & North American Foodservice 10.0%. In the International segment, net revenues in the European Union decreased 17.4% while the top-line in developing markets contracted 9.8%. Year-to-date, free cash flow was $1.4 ...

Kellogg Co. (K) reported strong second-quarter results with earnings of $0.92 per share. Earnings were $0.10 above Zacks Consensus Estimate and up 12.2% year over year, despite ongoing cost pressures and the challenging economic environment.

Quarterly net sales declined 3.4% year over year to $3.2 billion as the benefits from price/mix (+3.1%) and acquisitions (0.4%) were more than offset by negative tonnage (-0.5%) and currency translations (-6.4%). Internal sales, excluding impact of currency translations, increased 2.6%. Global cereal volume climbed about 2% during the quarter.

In North America, net sales increased 2.3% (internal growth 3%) driven by Cereals (+4%), Snacks (3%), Frozen (5%) and Specialty categories (5%). The cereal category had a strong quarter, with about 4% growth while overall quarterly consumption across all channels was up in the rage of 6% to 7%.

The snacks category had a challenging quarter impacted by the peanut-related recall, which was

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Water is essential for life. It’s quite literally an investment that you can’t live without. And while you might not be able to trade water futures on the Chicago Board of Trade, providing people with H2O is a $400 billion global industry, according to an article by Harvard’s Garry Emmons.

“In an age of global water scarcity, with governments scrambling to create new water systems or repair deteriorating ones, there is money in water,” he says. And Emmons isn’t the only expert who thinks water is soon to be a very valuable commodity. “Water is going to be more important than oil in the next 20 years,” predicted Dipak Jain, dean of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, to Bloomberg.

That’s thanks in large part to your local water utility. While cities and municipalities run 85% of water utilities, there are scores of for-profit companies left over to turn water

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Kellogg (K) presented today at the Deutsche Bank Global Consumer and Food Retail Conference in Paris. Management explained the company's Manage for Cash operating principle to European institutional investors as well as last week's announcement about adding fiber to many of Kellogg's US and Canadian cereals so that by the end of 2010, nearly 80% of Kellogg's of the US cereal portfolio will be a good source of fiber.CEO Dave Mackay reiterated the company's goal of achieving $1 billion of annual cost savings by the end of 2011 from various productivity savings initiatives, including K-LEAN, which is a manufacturing project that will drive the largest proportion of the savings.Through K-LEAN (Kellogg's - Lean, Efficient, Agile Network), the company will review manufacturing procedures and codify the best practices, which will be driven across the company's manufacturing network in order to simplify and streamline every aspect ...

DAVIS, CA — (Marketwire) — 05/27/09 — Octus Energy (OTCBB: OCTI) (www.octusenergy.com) today announced the addition of two senior executives to its management team, amplifying the company’s pursuit to commercialize its full-scale Smart Energy Platform. Joining the company are Mike McConnell as Manager, Business Development, and John Mattice as Manager, Energy Efficiency Projects.

“Mike and John bring decades of success in the creation, management and leadership of high-tech and energy companies,” said Octus CEO Chris Soderquist. “With their participation we intend to catalyze the introduction of the Octus Smart Energy Platform (OctusSEP) and initiate the development of smart energy projects throughout the United States. OctusSEP is being designed to take full advantage of the immediate opportunity to monetize energy efficiency.”

McConnell has more than 25 years’ experience in high technology. He was a founder and served as CEO and Vice President of Strategic Marketing for KeyEye Communications, a

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Okay, so Ralcorp (RAH) has delivered big returns just yet. In fact, the stock has traded roughly breakeven over the last year. But, in a year where the S&P 500 drops 40%, that’s not too bad. So, what is this company that has fared so well in such a bad market? 

Investment Thesis Ralcorp is a private label manufacturer of a variety of food products ranging from cereals to snacks to frozen bakery products. In an economy where consumers are constrained and food costs have risen, people have increasingly traded down to so-called “knock off” store brands, a.k.a. private labels. Grocery retailers like these products as well as they often can push them through at higher margin than branded products. In fact, recent earnings calls with

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Companies cited here include Kellogg's (K), Hershey's (HSY) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ).The FDA is investigating a peanut paste supplier, Peanut Corporation of America, in connection with a fatal outbreak of salmonella contamination that has hospitalized at least 90 persons and is being blamed for six deaths. Salmonella are bacteria that cause diarrhea, cramping, and fever. The FDA is urging consumers to avoid eating cookies, cakes, ice cream and other foods that contain peanut butter.As a result, Kellogg's (K) has recalled certain Austin and Keebler brands of crackers and cookies that contain peanut butter obtained from the Peanut Corporation of America.On the other hand, Hershey (HSY) is not affected by the outbreak in that the company does not purchase any peanut butter, peanuts, or peanut products from the Peanut Corporation of America. Peanut butter for Reese's Peanut Butter ...

The typhoon of commentary that’s blown around the world a step behind the financial tsunami that’s wrecking everything, two little words have been curiously absent: “fraud” and “swindle.” But aren’t they really at the core of what has happened? Wall Street took the whole world “for a ride” and now a handful of Wall Street’s erstwhile princelings have shifted ceremoniously into U.S. Government service to “fix” the problem with a “toolbox” containing a notional two trillion dollars.

This strange exercise in financial kabuki theater will shut down sometime between the election and inauguration day, when the inaugurate finds himself president of the Economic Smoking Wreckage of the United States. What will happen?

I have thought for some time that things could get dangerously out of hand in America, despite our exceptionalist notion that we are immune to the common plot-lines of history. For starters, inauguration night will seem more like

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